I was exposed to blood ~12 weeks ago and have just recieved my "conclusive" negative result. But is it really conclusive in this case, given that I may have potentially been infected with HCV as well?

I have heard that coinfection with HCV will absolutely NOT affect the window period, but have also heard that it can push it out to 6 months. So who do I believe? If it does not affect seroconversion, why not? Surely the immune system is fighting off 2 serious infections at the same time and this will slow down to production of detectable antibodies right? Or wrong? You can see why I'm confused.

Then there is the case with the 2 health care workers who took >6 months to seroconvert (I'm sure everyone is sick to death of hearing about these unusual cases). If coinfection wasn't responsible then what was?

Final question is would coinfection affect the duation of ARS? been experiencing strange symptoms for 6+ weeks now.

Any insight is truly appreciated. I have tried doing my own research - figured someone out there would have done a study on this - but it seems noone has. So yeah, anyone with a bit (or a lot) of knowledge - you'd be easing this mind greatly!

wish i could be an expert for you but i am not. i have tested people who had been exposed to both and have never come up with the delay in seroconversion . anything is possible with the human body due to its complexiities. but this is not the norm. the immune system is very capable of fighting more than one disease at a time.. the part where it falls is when you have had been immune compromised from having a disease for awhile that the immune system might not be up to par. hope this helps. love and peace

As far as I know the cases that you are referring of seroconversion after 3 months are cases of nurses which took PEP the day after... and this is the reason for late seroconversion.are you taking PEP ??

Thanks all so much for your replies - they are appreciated a great deal!

I didn't take PEP, so there is no issue there. It's so frustrating trying to find a definitive answer or a study that may point me in the right direction and getting absolutely nowhere!

So I am assuming that this means those that were simultaneously coinfected and seroconverted after 3 months (let alone 6) were rare cases and definately not the norm.

In essence this means, worst case scenario: my test was a very, very good predictor that I will not get a scary call from the bloodbank when I donate in a next month. Best case (and most likely) scenario: I'm conclusively HIV-

The Body is a service of Remedy Health Media, LLC, 750 3rd Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017. The Body and its logos are trademarks of Remedy Health Media, LLC, and its subsidiaries, which owns the copyright of The Body's homepage, topic pages, page designs and HTML code. General Disclaimer: The Body is designed for educational purposes only and is not engaged in rendering medical advice or professional services. The information provided through The Body should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or a disease. It is not a substitute for professional care. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, consult your health care provider.